Lockheed Martin to invite innovation ideas from start-ups

US war aircraft manufacturers Lockheed Martin will soon invite innovation ideas through its annual scheme meant for start-ups and university students to take forward their ideas and enable them enter the market.

“Applications for this programme, launched in 2007, will be received from March 21. It looks for start-ups and university students, who have got innovation, and they may be allowed to take their ideas to the next stage, enabling them to enter the market,” Lockheed Martin India, Chief Executive Phil Shaw was quoted as saying in a release here.

Every year, the company has been getting around 1,500 applications for “India Innovation Growth Programme”, Shaw said while addressing the audience at the Kerala’s first ever national level hardware start-up conclave conducted by Maker Village here today.

“People need exposure, investors or venture capitalists. The programme is set up to identify the innovation that is taking place in India. From the ideas, an expert panel will select the best 10 and they will be going to the United States each year to be exposed to the innovation ecosystem in the US,” Shaw said.

Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defence, security and advanced technologies company. In his keynote address, Kerala IT Secretary, M Sivasankar said Maker Village should associate itself with talents emerging from work experience fest being held in schools and colleges.

“One major thing that is happening in Kerala is the huge thrust, which we are trying to give on democratising of internet by ensuring that high quality bandwidth is available to every citizen and republic at large,” he said commenting on the digital initiatives of the state.

Meanwhile, Kerala’s first ever national level hardware startup conclave, organised by Maker Village here, concluded on a positive note with an array of speakers and stake-holders emphasising the need to tap the great potential in the hardware domain.

Around thousand participants, including hardware startups, officials representing the Centre and state governments, industries, technology firms, funding agencies, accelerators, hardware incubators, branding gurus and academic institutions from across the country attended the event held at Gokulam Convention Centre.